Quick Fix Tutorial

A while back, the buckle on my daughter's overalls broke off (followed shortly by the other one).  As these were my favourite pair and kids grow so fast, I wanted to fix them quickly.  So, I did a quick bit of crochet, and the overalls were again wearable.  I had a few requests to publish the pattern, but didn't really get to it, as it doesn't really seem like a pattern.  The idea seemed somewhat intuitive to me, but, as different things are intuitive to different people (and goodness knows, there's plenty of things I would still be clueless about if it were not for the fine tutorials that abound in the world of craft blogs), when another buckle broke on a pair of overalls this year (really), I thought I'd do up a quick tutorial after all. Here goes:

Quick Fix

Materials:

• Item that needs fixing in this manner, such as overalls sans buckle
• Crochet cotton, in this case J&P Coats Royale Metallic Crochet Thread (though spare laceweight or fingering would likely do)
• Crochet hook.  Here I'm using a steel 2/2.75 mm, but whatever seems small enough to work with your yarn is fine.

1.Foundation Single Crochet (FSC)* until your row is just bigger (by one or two stitches) then the overall strap (in this case, I used 10 sts).  Keep on with the FSC until you have twice that number (or slightly less if you want a tighter 'buckle').  Move your work into place around the overall strap, then slipstitch to your first stitch.  Ch 1, turn.

 

2.SC to middle of upper row (half the stitches, less two for the sides, in this case, 4 sts), then chain enough to fit your button snugly (it will stretch a bit, but probably shrink in the wash too, so aim for just right.  I chained 7 stitches for this one).  Rejoin with a SC in the next stitch, then SC across the remainder of the topside row. (Here, 15 sts total, being 8 SC and 7 Chain stitches). Ch 1, turn.

3.Working back across topside row, SC2Tog, SC2Tog, SC (number of chains in loop, in this case 7) into loop, SC2Tog, SC2Tog.  (About the SC2Togs: If you have a different number of stitches, do whatever combination of SC2Togs and SC that makes sense for symmetry.  You can also just SC instead of SC2Tog if you like for that matter; I just liked how it looked).

4.Tie off, weave in ends, and enjoy your clever rescue of a perfectly good piece of clothing that had nearly been wrecked by a silly bit of weak metal.

This particular sample of mine turned out a bit loose, which is fine, since the overalls are adjustable.  If your garment/object requires more precision, then use less stitches in your original foundation to make the 'buckle' tighter.


*If you haven't tried Foundation Single Crochet before, well, really.  You must.  It's the best thing since sliced bacon (as my husband points out, ever since buying both unsliced bread and bacon, bread is way easier to slice neatly), and futuregirl.com has a great tutorial (just click on tutorials, over on the top left of the main page).